The Story of Seiji Takamori
The Search for Truth

By Dr. Ranga J. Premaratna

Seiji Takamori was born in Japan around 1907. He was ordained as a Zen monk when he was 19. He received his training in a remote monastery under a Zen monk named Takeuchi. During his time at the monastery, Seiji saw his teacher perform healing on villagers using hands and hardly touching the body of the patient. This method was called Reiki. He was intrigued. He implored Takeuchi to teach him the art of healing, and Takeuchi agreed. He started teaching this method of healing to the young novice. Seiji discovered that Takeuchi had learnt this method from a man named Hayashi who was a master of Reiki. After a period of training, Takeuchi also became a master. Takeuchi's objectives were to help the poor villagers who supported the monastery. He gave healing as part of his services as a Buddhist monk. Seiji was the first person who had sought to learn this method from Takeuchi. Attunements were given to Seiji, and he was asked to work on himself for a few weeks. Then, he was taught how to treat another person in a seated position focusing on the chakras.

Seiji’s proficiency in Reiki was frequently tested by Takeuchi when he received Reiki treatments from Seiji. When Seiji reached a certain stage of development in his practice, he was given further attunements and was again tested. After a lengthy period of training, Seiji finally became a master. One of the gifts of this training was a special meditation that was passed on by Mikao Usui to Hayashi and from Hayashi to Takeuchi. This meditation was called Buddho meditation, and Seiji was told that this was the meditation Mikao Usui had practiced during his retreat on Mount Kurama, where he received his empowerment. When Seiji practiced this meditation, he was filled with an immense amount of energy such as he had never felt before. This simple meditation felt more powerful and effective than any other meditation he had ever practiced. He was fascinated by it. Also, he began to have a feeling that there was more to this meditation than his teacher had told him, and that there was more to Reiki than his teacher knew. Increasingly, Seiji was convinced of the presence of some hidden truth and set out to find it. He felt in his heart that this meditation was somehow connected to Reiki. His aim was to find a teacher with more information on this particular meditation who could help him in his path to enlightenment.

After receiving permission from Takeuchi, Seiji prepared for the longest journey of his life. He traveled first to India, where he lived in temples and ashrams, and studied Sanskrit, Pali, and Hindi, as well as Tibetan. This was to prepare him for his travels to remote regions in search of an appropriate teacher.

After several years of studying and traveling, he met some monks who recognized the Buddho meditation symbols, as well as two of the Reiki symbols, as part of an ancient system of healing that was practiced by a lineage of monks living in isolation. He then traveled to the Himalayas where these monks were believed to be living. After a long search, he found three monks who knew the method. He studied with them and then, he was directed to a more advanced monk for further training. Seiji stayed with this senior monk and learnt from him the complete Buddho system of healing and meditation. The original Buddho method of healing that was brought by a few lamas to the Himalayan region had evolved into a highly developed system of healing and meditation. After receiving the blessing of his teacher, he left again on a long journey. This time his goal was to develop the healing method he had learnt and give assistance to whoever needed it.

In the early 1970's, Seiji became aware of the existence of a woman named Hawayo Takata, who was trained by Usui’s student Hayashi, and one of the very few Reiki Masters alive at that time. Seiji urgently wanted to meet her to find out about the Reiki style she was teaching. He had reason to believe it differed in significant ways from the style he had learnt from Takeuchi. During their brief meeting, Seiji requested the master attunement from Takata. This was for him to experience whether the energy transmission differed as well as the teaching. In return for this attunement, Seiji provide a service for Takata. It is highly possible that Seiji could have taught Hawayo Takata some form of meditation that he learnt in India.

In 1990, he taught Ranga Premaratna the four stages of EnerSense and also the teachings and empowerments of Reiki, as transmitted in this very spiritual Buddhist lineage. Premaratna later called this lineage Reiki Jin Kei Do - Reiki in the Way of Compassion and Wisdom.

Following his years in the United States, Seiji traveled in Asia studying Theravada Buddhism and Vipassana meditation in Thailand and Burma.